Alternate Ending for Beachhead
by mermaid2bseeker
Summary: I was watching the ep reacently and I thought of an alternate ending for it.


Alternate ending for Beachhead

By mermaid2bseeker

_"Someone had to do something and you wouldn't listen. The objects are being held in some sort of energy field like links in a chain and I intend to take the place of the last link."_

_"Vala, when that singularity forms, there will be a powerful shockwave. The cargo ship won't survive."_

_"I'm counting on it. I'll ring back before it hits. Then you can all thank me immensely."_

It was only as the cargo ship rocked with electrical surges that Vala realized it might have been a bad idea. She made her way to the ring controls. Daniel would never trust her if she didn't come back in one piece. As she programmed the rings, a bolt of lightning jumped from the wall and hit her right shoulder. Shaking her head to get rid of the purple stars, she pushed the activate glyph and stumbled into the ring platform. The rocking of the ship intensified and she had to kneel on the floor to keep her balance as the rings popped up.

Daniel watched in dismay as the cargo ship glowed with electricity before exploding, dismantling the super gate along with it. Vala couldn't be gone, not before he had the chance to tell her he had feelings for her. "Did Vala make it back onboard?" he asked the lieutenant in front of him. Before he got a reply, he felt the familiar nausea overtake him. As his vision blurred and he fell to the floor, he worried that this meant Vala was dead. Then the blackness came over him.

_Six hours later_

When the rings lowered, Vala found herself surrounded by armed Prometheus officers. "It worked," she whispered. The officers gingerly helped her to her feet. She really didn't feel up to walking right now; it was freezing and what she really wanted was a warm blanket, perhaps one with a certain bespectacled archaeologist under it. Before she had gone ten feet, she collapsed into the officers' arms. They laid her gently on the floor, and one of them phoned for the medical team. "Ow," reaching up to her throbbing head, it stung where she touched it.

"It's going to be all right ma'am, just relax," the officer kneeling next to her said.

Vala looked up at him. "Daniel's going to be so upset," she mumbled before blacking out.

"Hey, Jackson!" Cameron said, entering the infirmary.

"Sorry, I keep falling asleep," Daniel muttered.

Sam walked up to the bed. "Well, it's better than the alternative. You're lucky the bracelet's affect was wearing off."

"Yeah, lucky me."

Teal'c looked at him. "Vala Maldorran will be mourned."

"You know," Sam began, "I've been going over the telemetry from the last few second before the formation of the singularity. A matter stream left the cargo ship just before it exploded. I mean…there's at least a chance that it was pulled into the singularity."

One of the on duty doctors whispered something to Cameron before leaving with a team of medics.

"Vala just appeared in the ring room," he said smiling.

"I guess I was wrong," Sam admitted smiling.

Daniel looked to Cameron. "How is she?"

"They don't know yet."

_Vala smiled at all the gold in the cave. "Oh, yeah," she said. "Hey Daniel!" The sexy archaeologist was too interested in his old book to pay attention to the gold. She looked to Cameron, but he just shrugged and continued tugging at the embedded sword. Fine, if Daniel wanted to read, then she wanted to listen. After all, he had such a nice voice. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Read to me," she whispered._

_He looked down at her hands and pulled them apart. "You want me to read to you?"_

_"Mmm-hmm."_

_"Fine." He flipped a couple of pages. "Once upon a time, the Ancients left behind a bunch of trinkets in the hopes that one day…Merdin bewitched the town and created this cave on a small island where everyone talks almost like Vala—"_

_The cave started shaking, Daniel stopped reading and looked around. "What's going on?" he asked. Nosily, the piles of gold toppled, and Cameron fell to the floor. Vala had to grab Daniel's arm to keep her balance. Teal'c, mysteriously unaffected by the shaking, walked up to her._

_"What have you done?" he demanded._

_"I-I-I didn't do anything," he gave her a look, "at least not recently." The room stopped shaking. "See, I told you so," she smiled nervously._

_A second later, Cameron shouted excitedly. "I've got it." He tugged at the sword and slowly it came up, stopping when all that remained in the stone was the very tip. "Oh come on." He stood on the stone and yanked with all his might. The sword flew out of the stone, across the room and embedded itself in the cave wall six inches from Vala's head._

_She turned to him. "Careful! You almost took my head off."_

_There was an odd twinkle in the Teal'c's eye when he spoke. "I believe it would have been an improvement."_

_"Hey, you made a joke." Daniel smiled._

_"Indeed."_

_Vala huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. No one cared about her. The nerve—after everything she did for them. Risking life and limb to get the tablet, using her feminine wiles to charm the Alpha site out of a drunken jaffa—why did she even bother. "Yes, let's all laugh at my expense." _

_Before the words finished coming out of her mouth, an eerie fog seeped up from the ground and collected at the stone pedestal. The four of them watched as the fog coalesced into the form of a prior. However, this was no ordinary prior, no. This prior looked exactly like Azdak, her faithful ex-servant from P8X-412. Immediately the three men began shooting at it, but to no affect._

_The Prior looked down at where the bullets passed through his chest as though it were thin air. "Foolish Tau'ri," he said. He pointed his staff at Cameron and a blast of fiery energy surrounded the colonel. Writhing in agony, he collapsed to the ground and the energy moved inward. When the flames died down, there was nothing left of Cameron except his uniform and dog tags. _

_"Oh my god," Daniel whispered. He reached an arm out for Vala, and she held onto it tightly. _

_Teal'c, seeing what happened to their leader, fired his weapon in retaliation. The prior just tilted his head and used his staff on Teal'c as well. Vala shrank away from the sight of him burning. _

_Why did she feel like crying? She hardly even knew these people. Besides, she was stronger than this; years on her own had toughened her with experience. Clenching her teeth, she forced herself to breath normally. It hurt, keeping the tears inside, but she didn't care. Tears were a weakness she had never allowed herself. She felt Daniel wrap his arms around her, and she buried her face in his uniform._

_The prior walked up to them. "Qetesh, you are hereby charged with the murders of Harrid and Sallis. Surrender to the ashrak now, or I will kill him." He pointed his staff at Daniel._

_She didn't want Daniel to die. Not now that he was the best hope for defeating the Ori in this galaxy. Nodding to the prior, she stepped away from Daniel. _

_"Qetesh, as punishment for your crimes, your body will be used as a vessel to house the Ori's essence." He pointed his staff at her. _

_"No!" Daniel yelled. "You can't do this." The prior looked at him with glowing eyes. "You're killing an innocent person. I won't let you." He tackled the prior to the ground and wrestled the staff away from him._

_The prior stood up and laughed. "Do you think you can defeat us? We are all powerful." He snatched the staff back and used it to stab Daniel in the stomach._

_"Noooooo!" Vala yelled as the prior laughed. Daniel grunted and fell to the floor. She rushed over to him and held her healing device over the wound. Nothing happened. She tried as hard as she could but she couldn't heal the ragged hole. "I can't, why can't I heal you?" His body burst into flames and she fell away, startled. "It's not fair," she cried out before hitting the prior._

_The prior stepped back and the room glowed with an orange light. A dozen orange orbs descended from above and circled Vala._

_"It's all your fault," the orbs whispered to her._

_"No! It's not!"_

_"Who insisted on opening her mouth during tea?" They circled faster with each question. "Who insisted on using the second stone? Who wanted her 'fair share?' Who used the bracelets? Who stole the tablet? And the cargo ship? And the power coil? And the necklace? You! It's all been you! Now it's time to pay up!"_

_The orbs shot through her body repeatedly, tearing through her skin like ragged knives. She collapsed to the ground screaming. The wounds felt like they were slowly twisting her organs and burning her from the inside out. Strangely, the flames felt icy on her skin. _

_Everything around her faded into black, and she fell, disembodied through the darkness._

Daniel was startled out of sleep by someone yanking the covers away roughly. He opened his eyes to find Vala trying to take off his shirt. "What the heck are you doing?" he asked her. She wrenched his scrub top up out of his hands and stopped. Rubbing her hand over his stomach, she sighed in relief.

"What are—?" Abruptly, she wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"Vala?" He hugged her back. "What's going on?" He heard her take a ragged breath and thought he felt his shoulder getting wet.

"I-I dreamt you died trying to prevent me from dying to protect you." She sniffled and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I was absolutely willing to go with the Prior if it meant saving you. But you had to go and be the hero," she hit his shoulder, "and get yourself killed, for nothing. The prior still got me in the end."

Daniel held onto her and rubbed her back to try to calm her down. "Shh, it was only a dream. Okay? Everything's okay, now."

Vala sniffled again. "Promise me you won't do something stupid like protect me and get killed. Promise me."

"I can't do that."

She pulled away from him. "Why not?"

He took her hands in his and looked her in the eyes. "Because that's what people do. They protect the ones they love, and I love you."

"No, don't say that." She pulled her hands back and turned away. "People who love me end up dead."

He stood up and hugged her from behind. "Well, I've been dead more than once. It's never stopped me before."

"Is that some kind of joke?"

"Nope. Death won't stop me from loving you. That I do promise."

A/N: I know the ending was just the corniest thing ever, but I couldn't help myself. I'm a rabid D/V fan.


End file.
